Scott Heath takes a gravity reading of cider fermenting in a barrel while his son, Benny, watches at their cidery in Sebastopol.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

Scott Heath takes a gravity reading of cider fermenting in a barrel...

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Ellen Cavalli (left) feeding her sheep including Pomona (left) as her husband Scott Heath and their son Benny Heath, 5 years old, play at their farm in Sebastopol, Calif., on Wednesday, November 28, 2012. They make hard apple cider and are called Tilted Shed Ciderworks, named after the structure in background.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

Ellen Cavalli (left) feeding her sheep including Pomona (left) as...

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Benny Heath, 5 years old, taking a swing on his dad's arm at their cidery in Sebastopol, Calif., on Wednesday, November 28, 2012.

Ellen Cavalli (left), Benny Heath (middle), 5 years old, and Scott Heath (right) on the farm with their sheep in Sebastopol, Calif., on Wednesday, November 28, 2012. They make hard apple cider and are called Tilted Shed Ciderworks, named after the structure in background.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

Ellen Cavalli (left), Benny Heath (middle), 5 years old, and Scott...

Image 8 of 9

Ellen Cavalli (left) feeding her sheep including Pomona (left) while Scott Heath plays with their son Benny Heath, 5 years old, at their farm in Sebastopol, Calif., on Wednesday, November 28, 2012. They make hard apple cider and are called Tilted Shed Ciderworks, named after the structure in background.

In the summer of 1990, Carl Sutton was working at a winery after dropping out of Sonoma State, and lived in a shack in the middle of a 50-year-old Gravenstein apple orchard.

"I remember how wonderful it was to wake up and grab a couple of apples off the tree," he says. "They're just so delicious."

Sutton eventually founded his own winery, Sutton Cellars, now located in San Francisco. But he never forgot those apples. Last year, he joined a handful of local hard cider makers who are providing a new outlet for the endangered Gravenstein and other heirloom varieties.

"There are just all of these great apple trees getting ripped out in Sonoma County and getting replanted with crappy Pinot Noir. Why not try to do something interesting with them?" said Sutton, who produces a few hundred cases of cider a year, including a brand-new release of unpasteurized and unfiltered cider made with a blend of organic apples.

Sales of hard cider were up by 50 percent in the United States in the past year. While the majority of ciders on the market are commercial brands made with apple juice concentrate and artificial carbonation, local cideries are emerging with naturally effervescent, food-friendly bottlings inspired by tart styles in Europe.

They're joining a robust list of established Northern California cider producers like Ace, Two Rivers, Philo Apple Farm and AppleGarden Farm in Tomales.

'A misconception'

"There's a misconception with hard cider. People think of apple-y, sparkly sweet juice," says Ozgun Gundogdu, co-owner of Upcider, a gastropub that opened on Polk Street in August and serves 90 varieties, including soft and elegant pours from Normandy, bracingly sour Basque ciders and barnyard-evocative bottles from England.

Northern California is joining other American apple-growing regions in its rediscovery of one of the country's original libations, and a craft that was almost forgotten during Prohibition.

"What we're really trying to do is bring back cider apples and bring back cider in a different way than what Americans are used to," says Ellen Cavalli, pouring a glass of Tilted Shed cider in her Sebastopol kitchen.

Bumper crop of apples

Cavalli and her husband, Scott Heath, got into cider while they were farmsteading in northern New Mexico and had a bumper crop of apples. In 2010 the couple bought a few acres on Highway 116 - the Gravenstein Highway - and planted a cider orchard with 23 varietals like Kingston Blacks, which are praised for their bitter and acidic qualities and are not for eating out of hand.

"They call them spitters," says Cavalli. "They add a lot of structure and nuance. What we are looking for is ones with high levels of tannins, as well as acid, sugar and aromatics."

The couple buys organic fruit from local growers to produce 1,200 gallons of cider a year, including the semidry Graviva, made from 50 percent Gravenstein.

Though cider has a similar alcohol level to beer, cider making is more like winemaking and much simpler than brewing. The apples are shredded, then pressed, and the juice is almost always blended. Cider makers either rely on wild yeasts found on the skin or add yeast to control fermentation, which can last for several weeks or several months. Then the cider is allowed to settle, and often can be ready soon afterward.

Jason and Molly Drew currently have a batch of cider from November's harvest in barrel for their first commercial release in June or July. When they bought property in Mendocino County for their Drew Winery in 2004, it came with a historic 15-acre apple orchard.

"They're heirloom varieties in a beautiful location, and they taste like candy. We always wanted to do something with them," says Jason Drew.

The Drews plan to sell about 35 cases of the cider at their tasting room near Philo. The current batch is about 50 percent Philo Gold, a local variety; 25 or 30 percent Rhode Island Greenings, a snappy, tannic apple; and about 20 percent Jonathan. Drew might allow the cider to undergo malolactic fermentation, which can softenits acidity, and intends to let it fermentuntil fully dry, so that no sugar remains and it will be stable enough to bottle unfined andunfiltered.

"To me that's more appealing," says Drew. "The apples are in more of a pure state and you're not having to manipulate it as much - you're really getting a sense of the terroir."

Another cidery in the works is the Farmer's Wife Craft Cannery & Kitchen, which Kendra Kolling plans to open at the Barlow center in Sebastopol next year with a cider press and fermentation tanks on site. Kolling and her husband farm 400 acres in Sebastopol and have a line of applesauce and juice called Nana Mae's Organics, but the rising cost of packaging is causing them to look for a better return on their harvest.

"It's another avenue to showcase the fruits that my husband and I grow," says Kolling.

'In danger of extinction'

Other recent arrivals include Apple Sauced from Devoto Gardens in Sebastopol, and Bite Hard from Boonville Cider House. Both mention the Gravenstein on the label, which is recognized by Slow Food USA as one of 200 "delicious foods in danger of extinction."

Cavalli of Tilted Shed points out that she can buy apples with blemishes that can't be sold as market fruit, and at a higher price than juicers.

"It can't compete with premium wine grapes," she said, pointing across the Gravenstein Highway to a winery. "But we can give people another alternative revenue stream."

After much sleuthing, she and her husband recently got access to a couple of abandoned orchards growing old cider varieties. They won't reveal their location, but they share the trees' long-kept secrets in bottles of hard cider.

This article has been corrected since it appeared in print editions.

A taste of California ciders

Apple Sauced Raspberry Sebastopol Gravenstein Hard Apple Cider ($7/22 ounces; 6% alcohol): Made from organic Gravenstein apples and raspberry juice, this cider has a dry finish and fresh raspberry flavor that belie the fruit punch on the nose. One of two Gravenstein ciders made by Devoto Gardens in Sebastopol, its crispness brings to mind Lambic beer.

Boonville Cider House Bite Hard Gravenstein Apple Cider($9.69/four 12-ounce bottles; 6%): Made by Brooks Schmidt, with Anderson Valley Gravensteins from his aunt and uncle's nearby Philo Apple Farm, this has a dry finish reminiscent of an English cider, with maple and banana on the nose. It's mostly available in Mendocino County, including at the Boonville Hotel, but other Bite Hard ciders are sold at Flour + Water, Delfina and other restaurants in San Francisco.

Sutton Cellars Sonoma County Hard Apple Cider ($6/22 ounces; 6%): Unlike Sutton Cellars' other cider made entirely from Gravenstein apples, this is made from a blend of six organic Sonoma apple varieties and indigenous yeast; it's unfiltered and cloudy. With candied apple on the nose, this is a bone-dry cider similar to those from Normandy, with very mild carbonation and a rounded finish.

Tilted Shed Ciderworks Lost Orchard Cider ($14/750 ml; 8%): One of three ciders offered by this Sebastopol cidery, this dry version is made from Roxbury Russet, Nehou and Muscat de Bernay apples from abandoned orchards in the Sebastopol area. With the highest alcohol level of the four ciders tasted, it is full-bodied with fresh apple pulp notes. Also available at Upcider in S.F.